The Ontario government is funding 33 new spaces and upgrading 63 current spaces at the Watford Quality Care Centre. In addition to modernizing long-term care, these projects will help reduce waitlists and end hallway medicine. MPP for Lambton-Kent-Middlesex Monte McNaughton says these investments come on top of the $1.75 billion already set aside by our government to improve long-term care in Ontario. He added for residents in Warwick and the surrounding area, we are ensuring our seniors and loved ones have the support and care they need for generations to come. This initiative is part of an additional $933 million being invested in 80 new long-term care projects across the province to deliver 30,000 much-needed long-term care spaces over ten years.
Province-wide, these investments support key government priorities, including eliminating three and four-bed ward rooms and creating wraparound campuses of care.
Criteria for selecting the projects being announced today included:
· Upgrading older homes in response to lessons learned around improved Infection Prevention and Control (IPAC) measures, particularly the elimination of three and four-bed rooms;
· Adding spaces to areas where there is high need;
· Addressing the growing needs of diverse groups, including Francophone and Indigenous communities; and/or,
· Promoting campuses of care to better address the specialized care needs of residents.
These projects are part Ontario’s Long-Term Care Modernization Plan.
As of December 2020, more than 40,000 people across Ontario were on the waitlist to access a long-term care bed.
Across the province, the Ontario government is moving forward with 80 new long-term care projects, which will lead to an additional 7,510 new and 4,197 upgraded long-term care spaces.
Ontario is investing $933 million in these projects provincewide, on top of the $1.75 billion already earmarked for the delivery of 30,000 new spaces over ten years.
With this new allocation, Ontario now has 20,161 new and 15,918 redevelopment spaces in the development pipeline.
Ontario has committed to an average of four hours of direct care per day for our loved ones living in long term care homes. Ontario is the first province in Canada to take this important step.